In any discussion of The Avengers 2, it's been hard to sift through the piles of online speculation and uncover traces of actual truth. But now, finally, we've hit upon an undeniably concrete piece of Avengers 2 news. Jean-Claude Van Damme wants to be in The Avengers 2. And that means that Jean-Claude Van Damme should be in The Avengers 2.

Last weekend, Van Damme took to his Facebook page to express his desire to star in The Avengers sequel. Accompanied by a photograph of himself gladhanding Stan Lee two decades ago, Jean-Claude wrote: "I read that Chris Hemsworth (star of Thor and brother of Liam Hemsworth, The Expendables 2) would like me to costar in The Avengers 2 movie! Well, it would be fun to play one of these types of amazing comic book characters again."

Needless to say, the discussion beneath Jean-Claude's post immediately began frothing with boggle-eyed abandon for the idea, with comments running the gauntlet from "waooooo van damme and stan lee is woonderfull" to "Yeah. Why not".

Why not indeed. It almost goes without saying that Van Damme would be perfect for The Avengers 2. Whoever ends up starring in The Avengers 2 will need to play nicely as part of an ensemble, which Van Damme proved he could do with The Expendables 2. True, his participation in that film basically amounted to turning up for about five seconds, waiting patiently while Stallone and Schwarzenegger mindlessly repeated their best-known catchphrases a hundred times each and then going home again, but that still counts.

The Avengers 2 will want someone who can keep up physically with some of the fittest action stars around. That's Jean-Claude Van Damme all over. Didn't you see that bit in Hard Target where he kicks a guy in the face, jumps through an exploding window in slow motion, rolls under a table and then shoots another guy in the chest 20 times in a row? Or the bit in Timecop where he has a knife-fight with a pair of Chinese twins in just his pants and then electrocutes a baddie by doing the splits? Or all of Double Impact, where Jean-Claude Van Damme was so kickass that he couldn't even beat Jean-Claude Van Damme in a fight?

So, with Jean-Claude Van Damme's inclusion in The Avengers all but rubberstamped by the "Yeah. Why not" guy on Facebook, we just need to decide who he'll play. Van Damme's own suggestion was either the Silver Surfer or Doc Savage, which are both unlikely to happen because the Silver Surfer is an entirely CGI creation and Doc Savage isn't actually a Marvel character. So maybe he could play a peripheral Avenger, perhaps Black Knight (good at riding horses) or Two-Gun Kid (owns two guns). Or maybe a baddie. So far, all we've seen of Thanos is a brief glimpse at the end of The Avengers, so it's not too late to transform him into a 52-year-old Belgian with a funny haircut for the rest of the saga.

Better yet, why not have him play himself? He could run on in the final scene when the Avengers are in a position of mortal danger, possibly in just his pants, and kick all the villains in the head. Jean-Claude Van Damme saves the day. Brilliant.

This isn't such a silly idea. After all, isn't it the Marvel way to offer second chances to down-on-their-luck talents? Without Marvel, Robert Downey Jr would still be making unwatched indie dramas. Without Marvel, Samuel L Jackson would still be trying to get Snakes on a Plane 2 off the ground. Without Marvel, Chris Evans would still be playing other, less-good Marvel superheroes. If Marvel can do all of that for all of those people, then surely it can find a place for Jean-Claude Van Damme in The Avengers 2. Or, if we're really lucky, two places. That's right – I've decided that Jean-Claude Van Damme should play twins again. Why not.